


Between The Raindrops

by NovaGlitch



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is mentioned, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Keith is a sap, Lance and rain, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, this is all fluff, with some angst sprinkled in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8392225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaGlitch/pseuds/NovaGlitch
Summary: It's been two years and Keith is ready to take the next step with Lance.  He enlists the help from his fellow Paladin's to pull off a huge surprise.  Everything is going to go as planned.  Yep.  Nothing will go wrong.  N o t h i n g.  No problems at all.OrA really sappy fic with angst sprinkled in because Keith believes the whole universe is against him doing this /one thing/.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been in this fandom for like 2 months and I've never written a Klance fic. What even.
> 
> This was written for the amazing and talented [@lancemcgayn](http://www.lancemcgayn.tumblr.com) on tumblr <3 Happy birthday, Mei!!
> 
> The title for this fic was inspired by Lifehouse's song ["Between the Raindrops"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgeA8frWjvQ)

Today’s the day.  Keith is going to do this.  He’s ready, so ready.  Not nervous, no, not nervous at all.  Him?  Nervous?  That's funny.  Nope, calm.  Very calm.  

 

He stares down at the glassy floor as he walks, hands in his pockets.  His mind is racing a mile a minute, running over everything he needs to do before tonight.  He has it all planned out, down to the very last detail.  It would all go off without a hitch as long as Lance didn’t suspect—

 

“Keith!  Hey, Keith, wait up!”  Keith freezes, turning to see Lance running up to him, one side of his jacket falling down his shoulder.  Lance sidles up beside him, a little out of breath, and nudges his arm playfully.  “You alright?”  He’s smiling That Smile™ that makes Keith’s whole chest tighten and his heart downright _flutter_.  “You look a little, I don’t know, um,” he scratches the back of his head, his lips quirked to the side, _damn him,_ “nervous?”

 

Keith laughs it off, hoping that it’s enough to fool him.  “I’m fine, Lance.  Just...tired.”

 

“Yeah, well, if you’d go to sleep at a reasonable time or wake up at one, maybe you wouldn’t be, hm?” His smile turns into a smirk, one that Keith has to literally force himself not to roll his eyes at.  They fall into stride together, both comfortable in each other’s presence.  Lance fills up the time spent walking with his usual babbling, switching from topic to topic so often that Keith has a hard time following, but he nods and hums whenever he feels it necessary.

 

When they finally make it to the wing of the Castle that houses the Paladin quarters, Keith makes a beeline for his room, but Lance, of course, stops him.  

 

“So, uh, I guess you’re busy then?”  Lance looks a little disappointed—maybe even a little hurt— and usually Keith would give in to that look in a heartbeat, but not right now.  Not today.  There are too many things he still has to do.  

 

Keith places his hand on the panel on the wall beside the door, letting it slide open with a hiss.  “Yeah, I, uh, yeah,” he stumbles on his words as Lance’s face shows more of what he’s feeling, the true hurt behind his eyes beginning to make itself known.  “Maybe training with Shiro or something.”

 

“Oh.”  It’s soft and full of hurt, but he recovers quickly.  “Well, have fun then.”  There’s that smile again, but this time Keith can see right through it.  It hurts to do this to Lance, but he’ll thank Keith later.  Lance turns to walk away and there’s a slight slump of his shoulders which makes Keith want to reach out and bring him back, tell him everything that’s going on, but he can’t.  It’s not part of the plan.  

 

 _It’s going to be all worth it in the end_ , Keith tells himself.   _It will be_.

 

The door closes behind him, but he doesn’t take another step inside, instead he presses his ear to the door and listens as Lance’s footsteps fade into nothing, a soft sound of a door down the hallway signaling the all clear.  He steps out of his room, making sure no one is around, and presses forward.

 

Time to get to work.

 

“Oh, good, you’re here,” Pidge huffs, grabbing his arm as soon as he’s in the common room.  She pulls him over to the small coffee table where Hunk is hunched over a piece of paper, furiously scribbling, erasing, then scribbling some more.  She kneels down next to him, pulling Keith down with her.  “Hunk’s stuck.”

 

“I’m not stuck, I’m just…” He doesn’t even look up from the paper, erasing another line with a scowl.  

 

“You’re stuck,” Pidge deadpans, turning to look at Keith.  “I, on the other hand, have finished _my_ task, and I think you’ll be _very_ happy with it.”  She places small stone, glossy and red, into his palm.  “It’s made from some Altean crystal Allura let me use.  She says good luck, by the way.”  Keith smiles, still admiring the stone in his hand.  “It’s called ‘Fire Stone.’  Fitting, right?”  She grins, turning it over in his hand to reveal the etchings.  “It even has a little surprise when he puts it on.”  She nudges his arm, making him look at her.  “So, I’d say I hit it out of the park, wouldn’t you?”

 

“You definitely did.”  Her grin grows wider, and he pockets the stone, hand lingering over the lump it makes in his jacket.  “Thank you—”

 

“You hear that, Hunk?  I knocked it out of the park.”  She leans over, elbow propped up on the table, her chin in hand.  She looks down at the paper, stealing it when Hunk’s pencil is lifted off the paper.  

 

“Hey!”  He tries swiping it back, but she’s too fast, on her feet in seconds.  “Pidge, give it back!  I’m not done.”

 

“Let’s see what you’ve got _so far_ then.”  She skims the writing, her smirk turning into a look of disgust.  “This is so, ugh.”  She sticks out her tongue and hands it to Keith.  

 

“So _what_?”  He asks, taking it and glancing at it without reading anything written.  

 

Her face scrunches up, shaking her head.  “ _Sappy._ ”  Keith quirks an eyebrow.  “It’s perfect.”

 

Keith reads it over and feels a blush creeping up to his cheeks.  Pidge was right.  It is extremely sappy and nothing he’d ever be able to have enough courage to say out loud, but Hunk did it so wonderfully, using everything he’d asked him to incorporate into it.  “This is,” he clears his throat, noting how it’d gone up a few notches, “it’s exactly what I wanted to say.”

 

Hunk stands up, tucking the pencil behind his ear.  “He’ll probably know it’s from me, I mean I have known him a long time, so you’ll have to rewrite it to match your ‘style,’ but I think it’ll work?”  

 

“It really will.  Thank you, Hunk.”  Hunk returns his smile and Keith turns to Pidge.  “You, too.”

 

“I’m just glad you didn’t ask me for love advice; I got nothing,” she jokes, but her grin is enough to let Keith know she’s grateful for the praise.  She glances at the clock on the wall behind him, realizing the time, and turns him around swiftly, basically pushing him out the door.  “You’ve got a schedule to keep to, don’t you?”  She pushes him out into the hallway, crossing her arms.  

 

Keith turns to face her, wringing his hands together.  He doesn’t move and she doesn’t either.  “I’m nervous.”  He’s sure she’s picked up on that, but if he was to confide or admit to anyone that he’s even the slightest bit nervous, it would be to Pidge.

 

He’s expecting her to answer with her usual quip or push him down the hallway herself, but her expression softens.    “Don’t be.  You’ll be great.”  She pats his arm lightly, her eyes full of encouragement.  “Besides, Lance loves you; it’s not like he’s going to say no anyway.”

 

“I’m not nervous about that, I just,” he pauses, his voice going quieter, “I just want everything to be perfect, you know?  I don’t want to mess this up.”

 

“Keith, you could literally take him to a McDonalds and his answer would be the same thing.  He loves you, you love him,” she shakes her head, “it’s disgusting.”

 

Keith laughs, not totally relieved, but definitely feeling a bit better.  “Too bad there are no McDonalds’ in space.  There goes my back-up plan.”

 

“Too bad.   I guess this is just going to have to do then.”  She flashes him a grin.  “You’ve got this, Keith.  Good luck!”  She nudges him in the direction of the training deck before heading back into the common room to rejoin Hunk.

 

Keith stands there for a moment, alone.  It’s really happening.  He only has one more person to check on and then it’s time.  Everything is going so smoothly that he’s starting to get suspicious.  When have things ever gone his way?

 

Coran’s working on his assigned part of the plan, screwing the last bolt into place, when Keith enters the training deck’s observation room.  “Keith!  You got here just in time; I’ve just finished.”

 

Keith smiles, inspecting Coran’s handiwork.  “Thanks, Coran,” he says, leaning down to inspect the pipes jury-rigged up to the control panel.  He stares up at the panel, letting his eyes sweep over the plethora of buttons, levers, and keypads.  “And all I have to do is press this button?”  He points to a small red one off to the side.  

 

“Yes!  Or if you’d like, you could use this remote instead.”  He hands Keith a small remote, one that would easily fit in his pocket if he needed it to.  “It’s up to you, of course, but if you’re going for a real surprise, I’d use the remote.”  

 

Keith nods, pocketing it.  

 

Coran claps him on the shoulder, giving him an encouraging look.  “Good luck, my boy.”

 

He gives Coran a smile, excitement welling up inside with just the idea of everything going exactly as planned.  

 

Or...so he thought.

 

“So, are you ready?”  Shiro leans against the wall across from Keith.    

 

Keith breathes in deeply, letting it out in a huff.  “I think so.”  

 

Shiro quirks an eyebrow.  “You _think_?”

 

“I _am_.”  He looks down the hallway, expecting to see Lance heading his way.  He’d left him a note about an hour ago to meet him on the training deck and he still isn’t here.  

 

“He’ll come,” Shiro says, noticing Keith’s anxious fidgeting.  “You left the note under his door, right?”

 

“Yes,” Keith replies shortly, looking down the hallway for the nth time.  “He should’ve seen it by now.”

 

“Maybe he didn’t.  You never know.”  Shiro stands up straight, coming to place his human hand on Keith’s shoulder.  “Try not to jump to conclusions, okay?”

 

“I’m not.”  He pauses, biting his lip.  “But what if—”

 

“Nope.  What did I say?”

 

“But Shiro—”

 

“What did I say?”  And there it is, the Space Dad voice™.

 

“To not jump to conclusions,” he mumbles, defeated.  “I hope you’re right about this.”

 

Shiro shakes his head, a small smile on his lips.  “I’ll go check on him.  Why don’t you get into position?”

 

“ _‘Position,’_ ” Keith scoffs, “You act like this is a training exercise.”

 

“You could think of it like one.”

 

“How so?”  

 

Shiro lets his arm drop, crossing both over his chest.  “Well, you’re always confident in any training we do, so think in that mindset.  Think one step ahead, plan it out, envision how you want this mission to go.”

 

Keith hums in understanding, nodding thoughtfully.  “Think of it as a training exercise, huh...Yeah, I can do that...I think.”

 

“You _can_.”  Shiro winks and goes to find Lance, leaving Keith to his thoughts.  

 

Keith slides down the wall and wraps his arms around his knees.  What if Lance saw the note and didn’t want to come?  What if he’s still mad about earlier?

 

_Stop, Keith._

 

But what if Lance knows?  Maybe that’s why he isn’t coming.

 

_Stop._

 

Maybe Lance knew about this all along and he’s going to say no and Keith’s going to make a fool of himself and he’s not going to be able to face Lance again and—

 

“Ugh!”  He runs a rough hand through his hair, nails grazing his scalp to the point where it just starts to hurt.  “Lance is going to come.  He’s just running late...or he didn’t see the note,” he reassures himself, “He’s going to say yes.  He’s going to.”  Keith sighs and ducks his head.  “He has to.”

 

— — — —

 

Lance throws the ball at his ceiling, letting gravity bring it right back down to him.  He does it again, and it veers to the right, so he moves to catch it.  He’s been at this for what seems like hours, just throwing the ball up, down, up, down, up—

 

“Ah, shit!”  The ball goes way off course and bounces away from his bed, rolling to a stop by his door.  He groans, letting his arms drape over the sides of the bed, and stares at the ceiling.  

 

With his distraction gone, his mind starts to race.   _What was with Keith today?  Is he ignoring me?_

 

He closes his eyes, bringing his hands up to rub his eyes.  

 

He thought it was pretty obvious that he’d wanted to hang out with Keith, but he’d been blown off.  Is this how it was going to be from now on?  Had he been too clingy?  Did he scare Keith away?  Had he pushed too much?  Gone too far?  Crossed a line?

 

“Oh, God, I’m a horrible boyfriend,” he mumbles, pushing his palms deeper into his eye sockets.  

 

“No, you’re just young and inexperienced.  Can you open up?”  

 

Lance almost falls off his bed in surprise.  “Shiro?!”

 

“Yes.  Can you please open the door now?  We need to talk.”

 

Lance groans, flopping backwards onto his bed.  “Can we talk tomorrow?”  He curls up into a ball, pressing his face into the comforter.  “I’m in the middle of a relationship crisis.”

 

“What relationship crisis?”  He asks incredulously.  “Lance, you’re _eighteen_.  Besides, this has to do with your apparent ‘ _relationship crisis_ ’, so please,” he knocks on the door to add effect, “let me in.”

 

Lance sighs, dramatically.  He swings a leg over his bed and pouts all the way to the door.  “Fine, but I don’t know what you know that _I_ don’t know because Keith was pretty clear today that he didn’t want anything to do with me and—oh.”  Lance stops when he sees a piece of paper, his ball sitting right on top of it.  He picks it up, eyes glossing over the words and he mentally kicks himself.  He lets the door slide open and he shoves the note in Shiro’s face before the older Paladin can even talk.  “Tell him to knock next time.”  He runs back into his room, slinging his jacket over his shoulder, and pushes past Shiro.  “No need for a talk now, Shiro, I’ve got a previous engagement...I guess.”  He looks at one of the clocks hanging on the wall.  “One that I’m late for _oh shit_.”  He jogs down the hallway, hearing Shiro wish him luck behind him, along with a small chuckle.  He picks up speed, almost slamming into Pidge and Hunk who are retiring to their rooms for the night.

 

“Oh, shit, sorry.”  He pats Pidge on the head awkwardly, letting her slap his hands away.  

 

“Not the hair,” she hisses, glaring Hunk into silence when he giggles.

 

“Sorry, sorry, yeah,” he inches past her, offering her a sheepish smile, “I know you don’t like your hair being touched.”  

 

She rolls her eyes.  “Whatever.”  She waves him off.  “Go be gross.”

 

Lance’s excitement goes up four notches.  He does a quick wave towards Hunk’s thumbs up and sprints down the hallway.

 

He’s at the training deck within minutes, gasping for breath.  He’s definitely a hot mess right now, but he hopes the sweaty hair and red face will be enough to convince Keith that he really was _not_ standing him up right now.  

 

The training deck is dark, only a few emergency lights illuminating the middle of the floor.  

 

“Keith?”  Lance steps inside, the door closing behind him.  The sound echoes throughout the empty room, nothing and nobody stirring in the darkness.  

 

_He’s gone._

 

Lance walks slowly into the middle, stepping into one of the spotlights cast on the ground.  He looks around, but sees nothing.  Just...black.

 

_He’s too late._

 

“Keith?”  He tries again, but it’s the same thing.  Crushing silence.  “Damn it.”  He kicks the floor with the toe of his shoe, eyes still roaming around the room.  “If you’re planning to scare me in the dark,” he tries to joke, but can’t find the heart to finish it.  Not when there’s no one around to hear.

 

He’s about to leave when there’s a noise, a creaking sound like metal shifting.  He waits, trying to pinpoint the direction came from when he feels it.  A cool sensation sprinkling over his skin, in his hair, dripping its way down his neck.  

 

_Rain._

 

It’s light at first, getting a little heavier within a few seconds.  It soaks his hair, little drops trickling down his face.  He’s frozen for a few minutes before it hits him.

 

_It’s raining._

 

He tilts his head to the ceiling, mouth falling open in a smile, reveling in the feeling of cool water splashing on his face.  He does a turn, hearing the sloshing of his feet, water already in his shoes.  

 

“Hey.”

 

Lance stops twirling, his jacket sloshing against his side.  He’d almost forgot what he was here for, but now it all makes sense.  “You.”  He points at Keith, who is standing just outside of the spotlight, clearly nervous.  

 

Keith laughs, shrugging.  “Me.”

 

Lance takes a step forward.  “ _You._ ”

 

“Uh—”

 

“You made it rain.”  

 

“I did.”  Keith scratches the back of his neck, looking for anything to do with his hands.

 

“ _For me_.”  Lance gestures to himself because he can’t believe it.  Well, he can believe it, but _he can’t believe it_.  There’s rain pouring down around him...and Keith is the cause of it.  He did that.   _Keith_ made it rain.  

 

“Yeah, for you.”

 

“Why?”  Lance can’t help it, he needs to know.  Keith had always been the quiet one in the relationship, so he’d never pegged him to do something this big.  He’d had his romantic moments, sure, but not like this.  This was so...Lance can’t even think of the word for it.  It’s so much.

 

“Because,” Keith pauses, finally stepping into the circle of light, “I—I love you.”  

 

Lance is speechless.  He’s heard Keith tell him he loved him before, but this is so much more than a few simple ‘I love you’s’ whispered as they part ways before bed or an awkward confession over one of Hunk’s meals together.  No, this was _much_ more.  This wasn’t just a verbal ‘I love you,’ it was also a visual one.  A giant gesture that Lance could tell Keith put a ton of work into.  He must have kept it from him for weeks, which, Lance knows, isn’t easy to do.  

 

“I, uh,” he’s found his voice, but the words aren’t coming.  He’s still trying to recover from the overwhelming shock of it all.  “Same.”  He cringes and he’s expecting to see Keith’s hope-filled face fall, but instead he’s met with a smile.  “What?”

 

“How very ‘Lance’ of you,” he laughs, taking Lance’s hand in his and weaving their fingers together.  “‘ _Same_ ,’” he mocks him playfully.

 

“You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

 

“Nope.”  Keith pulls him closer, using his free hand to push the wet strands of hair from his own eyes.  

 

Lance watches Keith take something from his pocket, his smile faltering slightly.  His hand has tensed up and Lance can tell this is taking a lot for Keith to do.  

 

Keith clears his throat.  “Um, well...When we first met, you didn’t like me.”

 

“Wow, great way to start off,” Lance smirks.

 

Keith glares.  “Shut it, I’m trying to be romantic.”

 

 “Even more romantic than all of this?  You’re going to kill me, Keith.”  A blush forms on Keith’s cheeks and Lance counts that as a win.  Lance: 1, Keith: (with all of what he’s done for today) 10,000.

 

“When we first met,” he tries again, giving Lance a look when he opens his mouth, so Lance snaps it shut, locking it with an imaginary key.  “You didn’t like me.  You called us rivals, but I never really thought of you as one.”  Lance is about to protest, but Keith cuts him off immediately.  “Because I always— you can’t make fun of me for this,” he swallows and Lance gives his hand an encouraging squeeze, “I looked up to you.”  

 

Well, that’s...okay...what?

 

Keith, probably seeing Lance’s confused expression, continues.  “You probably weren’t the best pilot, but you had so many friends.  You were so charismatic with everyone you met and the people just came to you.  I never knew how to do that.  So, when we met again saving Shiro, I pretended I’d never heard of you.  I wish I hadn’t done that.”  Lance watches as he produces a letter from his pocket and hands it over.  “I’m not good with words, so I asked Hunk to write something out...I told him everything I wanted to say and he put it all together.  I rewrote it and added some things, but hey,” Lance meets his eyes and they’re serious, “I mean every word.”

 

Lance opens the seal and begins to read.  As soon as he’s past the first sentence, his eyes are glossy with tears.  

 

_Lance,_

 

 _You’re one of the best things to ever happen to me.  I never thought we’d ever be this close, but I’ve found solace in someone I never thought I would.  You’re loud, obnoxious, a little too confident, arrogant at times, and a real pain in the ass, but that’s what makes you, you, and I love you all the more for it.  When we first started dating, it was awkward,_ very _awkward, but once we got past the initial ‘oh my God, we’re dating’ phase, we just clicked.  Fire and ice, blue and red.  Two opposite halves, two personalities on the opposite ends of the spectrum, coming together._

 

 _All my life I’ve had people leave me; I’ve been alone, and I was so used to it.  This team, and especially you, showed me that it’s okay to trust in someone again, that no one is going to leave me.  That_ you’re _never going to leave me._

 

_I did all of this to show you just what you mean to me.  You always said you had one dream, and that was to feel the rain on your skin again.  I couldn’t take you to Earth to see the rain, so I brought the rain to you._

 

_I may not say it as often as I should, but...I love you, Lance._

 

_Keith_

 

Lance feels a tear roll down his cheek and his smile is so wide he thinks it’s going to stay that way forever, which he’s totally fine with.  He looks up from the paper and _holy shit—_

 

Keith’s on his knee, a small red pendant attached to a black band in his hand.  He’s not even bothering hiding his blush, so red in the face that Lance would’ve just thought he’d run a marathon.  

 

“What are you—”

 

“Lance, I know we're young, but being out here, not knowing whether I'm going to see you tomorrow or if one fight is going to be our last...it kills me.  If I were to wake up one day without you with me, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.  I’d be lost.  I’d be broken.  I can’t lose you and I needed to show you exactly how I felt.  You’re my whole world, my best friend, the love of my life... So,” he lifts the necklace higher, "will you—"

 

Lance doesn’t let him finish, yanking him up by the shoulders and kissing him, his arms wrapped around his neck to bring them closer.  He kisses Keith with everything he’s got, going for showing instead of telling him how much this means to him.  It’s passionate and desperate, Keith bringing them closer with one hand on Lance’s waist the other on his jaw.  

 

They both have to come up from air, though.   _Damn humans and their need for oxygen_.

 

“Yes,” Lance breathes, bringing his forehead to rest against Keith’s.  “Of course I’ll marry you, you sap.”

 

Keith smiles, his hand caressing Lance’s face.  

 

Lance leans into it, closing his eyes.  When he opens them, Keith is there staring back at him, his eyes filled with love and affection.  A total change from when they first met.  

 

Keith gestures for Lance to turn around and he does, biting his lip in anticipation.  

 

The necklace rests comfortably right below the collar of his shirt, the red right by the blue.  Just how it was meant to be.  

 

Lance turns around to face Keith and smiles, his hands on his hips.  “So?  How does it look?”

 

Keith looks a little choked up, his eyes locked on the pendant.  “Perfect.”

 

Lance takes the gem in his hand and looks down at it.  “It has a ‘K’ on it!”

 

They both watch as it slowly glows red, starting at a soft shade and working up to a burning flame.  

 

“It glows?”  Lance’s mouth is hanging open, his eyes travelling back and forth from Keith’s face to the necklace.

 

“I, uh, I guess,” Keith laughs.  “This must be the surprise Pidge was talking about.”  

 

Lance stares at it, feeling the tears stinging his eyes again.  

 

“Do you like it?”  Keith’s voice is soft, the nerves clearly creeping back in.

 

“I love it!”  He throws his arms around Keith’s shoulders and nuzzles into his neck.  “Thank you, Keith.”

 

Keith smiles, pushing him back just enough so he can bring Lance in for another kiss, the rain still falling around them.  

 

“I love you,” Keith mumbles against Lance’s lips.

 

Lance sighs, fighting the urge to pop his leg up like they do in the movies.  “I love you, too.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr [@castlelions](http://www.castlelions.tumblr.com) about Klance. Like come at yell at me, I'll be yelling right back. To be honest most of my conversations are all in caps.


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